too loverly to eat

Archive for November, 2014

Since discovering that we have tawny owls living in the woods near us, I have found a new love for these gorgeous birds. They make the most amazing mystical “twit twoo” sound which we hear most evenings. So it seems very appropriate to blog about these cute little owl cupcakes. Click here to find out how to make them.

For the last few years Becky has done lots of baking for her running club and always tries to make the baking in the running club colours – red and yellow. So when Tom joined a hockey club up here I decided I would start doing some team-colour themed baking for him. His hockey team, JPC HC, plays in blue and yellow and the first thing that came into my mind was minions – I’ve clearly made too many minion cakes! Is it possible to make too many minions?

Nine years ago I made Tom a birthday cake. It was the first baking I did while I was at university and the first time I’d baked anything for him. I had to go out to buy cake tins – I even had to call my mum to ask for her standard chocolate cake recipe. However, it was a fairly simple cake – an 8 inch round chocolate cake, sandwiched together with chocolate buttercream and decorated with Smarties. Since then, I’ve always tried to make Tom a cake on his birthday – I even sent him gingerbread when he was in Afghanistan – and each year I try to make something different and better than the previous year.

A few months ago my friend Monika asked if I would be able to make an owl Birthday cake for her husband Aaron. I did a bit of research and found a few owl cake ideas which I sent over. The majority of ideas were cartoon like owls, probably more appropriate for a kids Birthday cake. But I managed to find a realistic barn owl cake too which looked amazing, but I honestly had no idea if I could make a cake like that! So I sent Monika the links to the various cakes, I was pretty sure the realistic owl would be her favourite, and it was. Despite it looking impossibly hard to make, I really hoped she would chose this one as I have never attempted anything like this before and was keen to give it a go, but I honestly had no idea where to start! Click here to find out how I made this cute little owl!